


tumble down, falling fast to the ground

by demistories



Series: let the human in [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: (each fairly minor), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Developing Relationship, F/M, Gen, Mini Bang, blood mention, injury mention, very brief death mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 16:31:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5672698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demistories/pseuds/demistories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a world where superpowers aren’t fiction but are still extremely rare, there are a disproportionate amount of bad guys. Especially considering how few of those with powers have enough power to actually fight the bad guys, and how few of those are willing to live a double life as a true Superhero. Percy Jackson and his team protect the city to the best of their abilities, Annabeth Chase and her team have the countryside and suburbs. Each has their hands full, and by some statistical anomaly, have never met. Until they do.</p><p>Trying to balance their normal lives and their double lives is hard enough without a rivalry. With a new supervillain making an enormous power grab, they’ll have to figure out how to work together. It doesn’t help that this new enemy knows Annabeth and her weaknesses. Working together might be the city’s only chance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was not a marathon, this was a sprint. As in, I wrote half of this today. Whoops? 
> 
> For the [PJO HoO mini bang](http://pjohoominibang.tumblr.com) on tumblr. [fred-di-angelo](http://fred-di-angelo.tumblr.com) did amazing art for it, I'll add the link as soon as they post it!
> 
> Shoutout to [Jenna](http://groveroverwood.tumblr.com/) for giving me Percy's superhero name and an even bigger shoutout to [Maya](http://zoenightstars.tumblr.com/) for not only listening to me panic and encouraging me, but also spending an hour with me looking through _really awful_ superhero names and oceanic terms.  <3
> 
> Note: minor mentions of blood and injury, nothing graphic, death mention that's only two lines and extremely minor  
> Title from Crystals by Of Monsters and Men  
> Series Title from Human by Of Monsters and Men
> 
> (incase it's unclear: italics = Grover, bold italics = Percy, bold = someone over earpiece)
> 
> Enjoy~!

"Okay, all things considered, that went pretty well," Percy said with a light laugh. He wiped his mouth, smearing blood across his cheek.

Grover dragged him in by the arm. "Again, your definition of 'well' is really wrong. Like very, _seriously_ wrong."

"That was amazing, Percy!" Rachel shouted from by the consuls. She coughed and glanced over her shoulder at Sally. "I mean, you should really be more careful."

Bianca just snorted. "Little slow there," she muttered, replaying the footage from a different angle.

Sally looked away, her eyes immediately landing on Percy’s injuries.

Percy pulled away from Grover, holding his arms out. "I’m not dead," he said to her quickly. "I’m not even that badly injured. Just a few scrapes and bruises. No need to call Will."

Sally reached a hand to his face before hesitating. She pulled her hand back and shook her head, shaking slightly. "Nonsense, Will has the night off. He was planning on stopping by anyway. Let me get the first aid kit and start cleaning you up."

Percy slumped into the nearest chair as she turned away. "Does that kid ever do anything fun?"

Bianca rolled her eyes. "He’s a med student, what do you think?"

"The answer is no," Rachel said flatly. "He said he might bring Hazel tonight, by the way. You’re definitely not training since you’ll be on the table, so I’m going to go upstairs real quick and grab my acrylics. Get a bit of an art lesson in while she’s here."

"I hate to disappoint her," Percy muttered.

"Hey!" Rachel nudged him lightly. "My lessons are the highlight of her week and you know it. And I don’t think it’s actually possible for you to disappoint her."

He raised his eyebrows and looked to Grover.

Grover shrugged. "It’s true. Hazel’s probably always going to look up to you, but that’s just her. How’s your pain?"

"My pain is 0, Baymax. You all need to calm down."

"Well," Rachel said, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "I’m going to leave, and hopefully that attitude leaves with me." She elbowed Grover. "Don’t let him move too much or Will will have a cow."

"I know, I know," Grover said, elbowing her right back. "Remember I've been doing this longer than you?"

She snorted. "Barely. Have fun nerds, I'll be back in like ten minutes."

"Be careful," Sally said as Rachel reached the door.

Rachel smiled. "Just going upstairs, but I always am!"

Sally shook her head as the door slammed shut and the lock light turned red. "I'm sorry," she said, dabbing Percy's face with a cotton ball in hydrogen peroxide.

Percy shrugged. "It doesn't hurt too much."

She sighed. "Do you want ice or advil?"

"Yes please."

She handed the cotton ball to Grover. "I'll be right back."

Bianca swiveled in her chair as soon as Sally was out of earshot. "You worry her."

Percy groaned. "I know."

Grover cleaned a cut across Percy’s forehead. He just raised his eyebrows.

_She’s really worried, Percy. Constantly coming back with injuries isn’t helping._

Percy pushed Grover’s hand away. **_It’s not like I’m trying to!_**

Bianca snapped her fingers. "Hey, no mind melding around other people!"

"Sorry," they both muttered.

"Maybe you should take a break? For your health, and Sally’s," Grover suggested.

"I can’t do that," Percy protested. "There are people who need me."

"Careful there," Bianca said, "your ego is inflating so much you’ll get the power of flight."

Percy batted away Grover’s hand again. "It’s not my ego!"

Grover pushed him back. "Let me clean your cuts!"

"Fine," Percy grumbled, crossing his arms. "It’s not my ego. Nico and I currently the only major supers in the city, and you know we can barely handle it as is. I don’t doubt your brother, but I can’t leave him to do it himself. It’s too big a job. That wouldn’t be fair. Lives are literally depending on us."

Bianca looked back to the monitors. "I know."

_Really, Percy?_

**_I didn’t mean to._ **

"I didn’t mean to imply that you’re making this harder for us," Percy said aloud. "The priority is that you get better so you can help more people."

"‘I can’t help people if I can’t control myself,’" Bianca quoted. "I remember." She blinked rapidly. "Doesn’t stop me from feeling like shit."

He reached out and grabbed her hand. "I’m sorry."

"We both are," Grover added, tossing the cotton ball in the trashcan under the desk. "But we also want you to be safe."

"Everyone wants us to be safe." Bianca spun towards them in her chair. "Will, you, Rachel, Hazel, Sally, Paul _would_ if he knew…"

Percy shrugged. "Natural reaction?"

"Absolutely a natural reaction!" Grover cried. "I mean, just because you supers are selfless and devote yourselves entirely to the city doesn’t mean that other people aren’t selfish and worry about your wellbeing!"

Percy laughed. "We know, Grover. You do enough worrying for me, Bianca, and Nico combined."

"Well someone has to," Grover grumbled. _Mom_.

Percy looked over his shoulder to see Sally holding a glass of water and an ice pack. She handed him the glass of water and Grover took the bottle of advil from the first aid kit, giving Percy two tablets.

Percy tipped his head back and downed them with water. "Thanks, Mom," he said, putting the glass on the desk. "I'm sorry for not being more careful."

She gave him a weak smile. "I know. I also know you're doing your best, and doing what's right." She gently touched his cheek just below the cut. "I just want my baby home safe."

"I will be," Percy promised.

Sally sighed softly. "I know," she said, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "I know."

—«·»—

"I'm fine," Annabeth said, pushing Piper and Jason out of the way. "No skin was broken, no blood was shed." She could imagine the worried look they were exchanging behind her back.

"Just because you aren't bleeding on the outside doesn't mean you aren't bleeding on the inside," Piper shot back.

Annabeth sighed. "I'll let Chiron take a look? Okay?"

"And then sleep?" Jason suggested.

She turned around and gave him a weary smile."I've got a paper due on Tuesday."

Jason and Piper both sagged. Annabeth was still regretting letting them into this whole thing. They didn't need this on top of the rest of their lives.

"I'll take a power nap, okay? Twenty minutes."

"There's no way we can negotiate ninety minutes?" Piper asked. "A full sleep cycle?"

Annabeth tugged off her mask, shaking her curls free. "There aren't enough hours in the day." 

"I'm working on fixing that," Leo said, shoving his gloves in his back pocket. "I have no idea what we're talking about, what's happening?"

"We're trying to convince Annabeth to take care of herself," Jason said. 

"Aka, sleep," Piper added. 

Leo wiped his greasy hands on his pants. "Sleep is for the weak." He coughed when Piper shot him a glare. "I mean, sleep is necessary for human survival. And you should...do that."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Great. Thanks for the pep talk guys."

"Try to get a few more hours tonight?" Piper pleaded.

Annabeth felt herself giving in as she shut her eyes. "No promises," she said, turning towards what Leo had dubbed the Planning Palace.

Reyna stood with her arms crossed across her chest, watching the fight from various angles people had posted on the internet and the camera Leo had built into Annabeth's suit. 

"I'm fine," Annabeth said immediately.

Reyna just raised an eyebrow, keeping her eyes trained on the screens. "You were thrown pretty hard." 

Annabeth winced, already feeling the bruise that was forming. Her entire right side was going to be a beautiful shade of purple, black, and green when she peeled off her suit. "I can move," she said, "I can't be that injured."

"You did well," Reyna said. There was a small smile playing on her lips, which Annabeth chalked up as a win. "I've noticed a few weaknesses in you and in Empousa while watching the footage. I'll write it down for you while you see Chiron."

Annabeth groaned. "Maybe I can just skip tha—"

Reyna turned away from the screens, giving Annabeth the cool, calculated look that still sent a slight chill down her spine. "You need to take care of yourself, Annabeth."

"I know that," Annabeth said. "I just don't want to worry Chiron about a little bruise. Besides, I've already had this speech from Piper and Jason. I get it."

Reyna glanced back to the screen. "I'll have updates for you in two hours. See Chiron and then sleep. I'll come get you when I'm ready."

"But—"

" _Annabeth_ , you need to be careful, your powers take a toll on you, just like they do on everyone else. You won't be at full strength until you rest."

"Who made you boss," Annabeth muttered.

"You did," Reyna said, flashing Annabeth a real smile. "And now I'm telling you to go to sleep."

Annabeth grumbled, but she couldn’t help but mentally thank Reyna for forcing her to rest as she collapsed onto her bed. The bruise made laying down uncomfortable, but Chiron had done all he could, and now her subconscious was clawing at sleep. It was time she gave in. 

—«·»—

"If I text Nico and say Will is coming, how long are you betting it'll take for him to show up?" Bianca asked as she clicked through the news feeds.

"Ten minutes?" Grover asked.

"Two," Percy said. "Come on, man, that's way too long. Sil?"

Bianca unlocked her phone and typed rapidly. "'Update: Percy's injured again and Will's coming by to fixing him up again'," she read. She hit send. "Under a minute, ten bucks."

When Percy reached forty three seconds in his count, Nico stepped out of the shadows near the doorway.

"I win," Bianca said with a smirk.

"Seriously?" Nico asked, glaring at Percy. " _Again?_ "

"It's nothing major," Percy said. "I mean really guys, get me a bathtub and I'll be fine, what is with you and not letting me use my powers to heal myself?"

"You become less like yourself," Grover said, wringing his hands. "It's scary, and we're not doing that again."

"Unless you're hurt so badly that's it's our last option," Bianca amended.

Grover made a strangled noise.

Nico rolled his eyes, slumping down into Rachel's abandoned chair. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"Nah," Percy said. "Will's going to be here in like five minutes, I think I'll survive until then."

"Don't say things like that," Grover said.

Bianca pushed Nico's chair, spinning him. "We're going to be fine, Grover."

Grover stopped chewing on his lip. "Says one of the three most powerful supers in the city. To a disabled guy who can make plants grow."

"You're also selectively telepathic," Percy reminded him, "and if you don't think that's awesome, you're wrong."

"It'll be fine," Bianca repeated.

Nico frowned and leaned closer to the monitors, reading the article that Bianca had up. "They're trying to guess who you are? Have you read this?"

"They're always doing that," Percy said with a shrug. "They don't do it to you as much, but that might be because you're on and off the scene a lot faster than I am. You aren't always there, and you don't get bogged down by reporters."

"Blame the paparazzi," Bianca said.

"Um, I will, thank you very much," Percy retorted. "It'd be great to not have to worry about extra people's lives. People who are only there so they can take pictures of me, like at least be at a distance."

"That's never a problem for me when I'm not working with you," Nico said.

"Because you scare people," Bianca said flatly. "Happened to me too, just to a less extreme than Percy, because," she motioned to herself, "the public is 200% less interested in the vanishing female superhero than the water spraying male one."

"That is not my fault," Percy said.

She snorted. "I get that. Besides, I prefer it. I'd rather not have to deal with what comes along with being a girl in the spotlight." She scrunched up her nose.

The monitor started beeping.

"Will or Rachel?" Percy asked.

Bianca pulled up the security video, where Rachel and Hazel smiled up at the camera, while Will paced behind them with a panicked look.

Percy sunk into his chair.

She pushed the button to let them in as Nico suddenly found himself very interested in going through fight footage.

**_Do you think he realizes how obvious he is?_ **

Grover raised his eyebrows. _I think he's pretending not to._

Percy snorted.

The door burst open, Will already digging through his bag as he hurried over to the table that he'd claimed as his own.

Percy sighed and pushed himself out of his chair. "It's really nothing, okay?"

Will spun around, his stethoscope hanging in one ear, bandages in one hand, and a bottle of _something_ in the other. "Sure. Last time you said that, you had broken almost your entire hand."

"Over exaggeration," Percy declared as he pulled himself onto the table.

"Yeah, not really." Will put the bottle and bandages down. "That is the last time I let you use your powers to heal yourself."

"But—"

" _No,_ " Will said sharply, pointing a tongue depressor at Percy. "None of us like what it does to you." 

Rachel claimed a different table, spreading her paints and brushes across it.

Hazel leaned against Will's table. "Are you really okay, Percy?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, and I promise I'm not lying. A little bruised, a little battered, maybe a little more cut up than usual, but overall, not bad. Nothing to worry about, Miss Metal Detector." 

She smiled brightly. "That's a relief. All we heard about on our way over was the fight."

"It was spectacular visually," Bianca said, as Nico hit replay on a particularly good quality video. "But in reality, nothing really happened."

Percy shrugged. "We were pretty evenly matched."

"Next time be better," Nico said.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Thank you for that super helpful suggestion that I definitely haven't thought of before."

Will started his usual checkup, asking questions that Percy had asked himself as soon as the fight had ended. Will had permanently drilled them into his brain.

"I've been in worse shape," Percy said as Will bandaged his arm. "I mean, we did meet when I was half dead in a dumpster."

"And I'd like not to repeat that."

"I thought it was fun."

Will tossed his stethoscope towards his bag. "You almost gave me a _heartattack._ "

"Welcome to the club," Rachel said, brandishing a paintbrush. "Percy Jackson, I lose sleep over you." 

"I love you too Rachel."

—«·»— 

Annabeth hit away the hand that was shaking her, jumping into the best self defense stance she could manage while still half asleep, ready to knockout the first threat that presented itself.

Frank frantically threw his arms up. "Not the enemy!"

She blinked at him for a second before relaxing. "Sorry," she grumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"It's fine." He lowered his hands. "I probably should’ve been more ready for that."

She shook her head. "I thought Reyna was waking me up." She pulled her hair up into a messy bun.

"I wish," Frank said. "But she's busy, and I drew the short stick."

Annabeth shot him a glare. "How's your control going?"

He shrugged. "It's not."

"You didn't turn into a koala when I jumped at you, so that's probably an improvement."

Frank smiled as they walked down the hallway. "Okay, I think you might be right."

Annabeth rolled her eyes when they stepped into the main room. Her eyes were immediately drawn to Leo, who was hanging off the edge of the couch. Jason was sitting at a table surrounded by textbooks, and Piper was scratching something on a piece of paper. 

"You’re up!" Leo announced. He flipped backwards off the couch, pulling his feet over his head and landing on his hands and knees. "I’ve got your suit all fixed up, and I updated some of the tech." He stood up and brushed off the palms of his hands.

Piper folded the paper into an airplane and tossed it at Jason. "Reyna and Frank have been analyzing your fight like there's no tomorrow, and Jason's been researching this paper for like eight straight hours."

The airplane bounced off his shoulder. Jason didn't even look up.

Leo rolled his eyes. "I’m sure it’s important, but I’m also sure that his brain is going to start leaking from his ears in a minute."

Frank nodded when she looked to him for confirmation. "He started working on the paper last night, probably went home and worked on it last night, and has been working on it all of today except for during the fight." 

"I can—"

The three of them shook their heads immediately.

Piper started folding another airplane. "Your job is to rest, and do some of that paper you have, but mostly to rest. Whatever you were thinking of doing, one of us can do it." 

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "I was going to say I can go spar with him, but I’m assuming that’s out of the question?"

"Way way way out!" Frank said. "And Reyna would actually kill us if we let you spar right now. That’s not even mentioning Chiron."

Piper tossed the airplane to Leo, who caught it with ease. "I can ask him for another lesson?"

Leo wiggled his eyebrows. "Yeah, he's always down for sparring with you, Pipes."

She balled up the paper in her hands and chucked it at his head. He ducked out of the wall and it hit the couch.

Annabeth sat down next to Jason, pulling her laptop from under one of his textbooks. She tapped his hand until he looked up.

He blinked, then removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Yeah?"

"Piper was wondering if you have time to give her a self defense lesson."

Jason looked back to his textbook. "Uh..."

"You can make time," Leo said, tugging his textbooks away. 

"But—"

"Do you want me to get Reyna?" Frank asked. "She did say earlier that you needed to take a break."

"I'll never finish!" Jason protested.

Piper took his hands and pulled him to his feet. "You and Annabeth are switching paper writing duties for the next hour, at least."

Leo threw the books towards the coach. One made it, the other bounced off the side and hit the floor. "What happened to the Jason Grace who said we had to take twenty minute breaks every hour during finals? Do we have to mom the mom?"

Jason shook his head. "I just—"

Piper pushed his glasses on. "Come on, Reyna’s been helping me with self defense, I think I’ll be able to stay standing for longer now." She smiled at Annabeth as she pulled Jason towards the door. "Have fun working on your paper!"

Annabeth sighed as she opened the document. It was more fun getting thrown into walls. 

* * *

_PERCY!_

Grover’s voice was too loud in his head. But he got the message. He let the water drop and dropped with it, narrowly avoiding the swing of Helios’ fist. The momentum spun Helios until he hit the side of an abandoned building. Percy had to remember to thank Bianca after him and Will yelled at her.

**_Thanks._ **

Percy whirled the water around them, trying to figure out how to extinguish Helios’ flames. From what he could tell, they were the source of Helios’ powers.

Grover swore. _You’ve gotta get out of the city. You’re causing way too much damage._  

He did a quick sweep, and found himself agreeing. Bianca and Nico were keeping casualties close to zero, but they wouldn’t be lucky forever. 

**_Get Nico to help me out? Once I get into open area I should be able to handle him so—_ **

He shot a beam of water directly into Helios’ face, making Helios stumble backwards.

**_Tell him to start cleanup after._ **

_He’s never going to—_

**_Tell him to get Bianca back to HQ then!_ **

Percy hoped Grover’s radio silence meant he was doing as he asked. There was a tugging sensation in his stomach, but he needed more space if he wanted to pull through with that move.

 _He’s with you_ , Grover said. _Do what you have to._

**_Tell him we’re headed towards the edge of the city, and tell Bianca to get civilians out of the way._ **

_What do you need him to do?_

Percy hesitated, still moving towards the outskirts of the city. With a quick glance over his shoulder, he could see Helios was still taking the bait. But they were too slow. Too many things were burning and they needed to get out of concentrated areas so firefighters could get through.

"Shit."

_Percy?_

**_Okay, can he drag him?_ **

_Perce, I don’t know if that’s—_

Percy gritted his teeth, propelling himself forward. The water raised to his waist and he swung around.

"Hey burnout! Is that the best you can do?" Cliche taunting. He dropped from the sky as Helios shot a fireball. Worked every time.

He caught himself on a wave, surfing as fast as he could without losing Helios. 

 _Do I even have to say it?_  

**_No. Is Nico ready?_ **

He practically heard Grover’s sigh. _You have to be ready to get there._

 ** _Tell Nico to lead Helios as far from the city as he can. He only needs to Travel to the edge. It’d be nice if he can lead him towards the river, and try to extinguish the flames._**  

 _Okay. You’ll know when it happens._  

Percy slowed his speed drastically, moving towards the darkest area he could see. "Come on, Nico, any day now," he muttered.

As if cued, Helios vanished. Percy smirked, and shot off towards the city’s edge as fast as the water could take him.

**_Alright Grover, start describing where Nico is._ **

—«·»—

Annabeth sat up as her earpiece crackled. "What?" 

 **"We’re getting alerts,"** Reyna said. **"There’s something happening right on the edge of the city, and it’s moving further into the suburbs."**

Annabeth groaned. So much for an easy day.

Reyna gave her directions and updates. Annabeth listened intently, creating a plan as she rushed to the scene. Using telekinesis to fly was so natural to her that she was able to discuss this plan with Reyna. Reyna yelled to Frank for his opinion just as Annabeth arrived.

She took in the situation. There was someone at Helios’ feet, blipping in and out of existence, trying to move Helios in a certain direction.

"Who is that?" she asked. She knew all the major supers in the area, it was part of knowing Chiron.

 **"I can’t get a clear look at him,"** Reyna said.

 **"Get a little closer,"** Leo added. **"I think I’ll be able to get a clearer zoom if you’re closer."**

Annabeth was about to move when someone appeared over the top of the hill. She didn’t recognize this super either, but his powers were clear enough when she saw the water he was standing on.

 **"Okay, I’ll do two searches,"** Leo muttered.

She rolled her eyes and ran from the spot she’d been hiding in. She’d never heard of these two, there was no way they’d be able to handle this on their own.

—«·»— 

Percy was ready to dump the entire ocean on her head.

"I’m just gonna go," Nico muttered, stepping towards a dark shadow.

Percy grabbed his arm. "Hold on." He pointed to her. "What the hell was _that?!_ " 

He couldn’t see most of her face because of her mask, but he could feel her glare. "That was me saving you."

"We had it under control!"

"We did," Nico said.

"What, was today your first day out?" she snapped. "I could do better than that in my sleep!"

Nico yanked his arm free. "Have fun, I’m leaving." His face was masked with shadows, but Percy knew what look was on his face.

"At least bring Helios to the police," Percy muttered.

Nico wrapped his arm around Helios and stepped into the shadows.

She watched the spot where he’d vanished.

"My first day out," Percy muttered. "Yeah right."

"That’s what it looked like," she said, crossing her arms. "I haven’t seen fighting that bad since I was twelve."

Percy clenched his fists.

_Breathe, man. Your brain is going haywire._

**_Not the time._ **

_Just get back here. You’re going to collapse. You need a nap, a snack, and a desk to write that paper at._

She was waiting for a response. Too bad.

"I don’t have time for this," Percy muttered. "I have a paper to write." He used his remaining strength to pull the water from the soaked ground around them, carrying himself back to the city. 

"Her name is Brainstorm," Rachel said when he laid down on a table.

"I don’t care."

Bianca put a cup of water next to him. "She’s been around for years, she just stays in the suburbs and countryside."

"Good for her."

Rachel was saying something else, but he tuned her out to stare at the ceiling.

 _Percy?_ Grover’s voice was soft and careful.

**_What._ **

_Are you okay?_

He felt drained. He was used to that, all powers had limits, and he pushed his too far. Brainstorm hadn’t been wrong when she said that their fighting was bad. It had been.

They hadn’t had Bianca for a few months, ever since the fight with Talos. She hit her limit, and Faded. It was terrifying. She wasn’t really there, he could pass his hand through her. It had taken days of bed rest for her to fully form again.

Him and Nico hadn’t fully adjusted to not having Bianca there, they hadn’t had a fight on this scale since before. Yeah, they probably should’ve practiced, but Bianca had always stuck with Percy more than Nico had.

And…Percy wasn’t sure what wouldn’t happen if he pushed his limits. He didn’t really want to know, but he kept getting closer to.

_Percy._

**_I’m fine. I just need to sleep._ **

 —«·»— 

"Eclipse and Riptide," Piper said, handing Annabeth her phone.

Annabeth took it, also taking the apple that Frank was holding out. She scrolled through the article, pausing at a photo. "This isn’t Eclipse."

Piper shrugged. "That’s Silhouette. She worked with Riptide until a few months ago. Eclipse was sometimes there, but usually Eclipse worked on his own." 

"Hm." She took a bite from her apple.

"They don’t really leave the city," Frank said.

She raised her eyebrows. 

"It’s a big city, it seems like when Silhouette was still around, they had it split up in three, only calling on the others when they needed them. Riptide and Silhouette took most of the big ones, Eclipse took the smaller." Reyna clicked through videos from the city. "How we haven’t heard about them…I’m not entirely sure."

"So no one knows what happened to Silhouette?" Annabeth asked.

Frank shook his head. "She disappeared after a fight with this Talos guy. It’s weird that Eclipse is still around though. They have the same powers."

She frowned. "The same…?"

"They’re siblings, duh," Leo said, handing Annabeth a watch. "What?" he asked when Reyna turned to look at him. "Why else would they have the same powers? They fought together and stay in the same area, and I mean," he pointed to the picture, "I get that that’s a staged photo for this blog-y thing, and you can’t really see their faces, but from what you can see, they look sort of the same, and they’re standing the same way."

Piper took her phone back. "You’re right. And now I’m going to spend all night reading speculation posts."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Have any of those ever been remotely close to being right?"

Piper smiled. "Nope! But the theories are always fun."

Annabeth sighed.

"How are you feeling?" Frank asked.

"Tired."

"Chiron can take a look at you tomorrow," Reyna said. "Time for bed." She squeezed Annabeth’s arm. "And don’t worry about them too much, I doubt they’ll be any trouble."

* * *

Percy let the water drop so he was at Brainstorm’s level. "Fancy seeing you here."

"I should be saying that to you," she said, and they both dove out of the way of a shot of electricity.

He didn’t really need her help, and she probably didn’t need his, but if they were both here, they might as well attempt working together. At least, those were his thoughts as he made a wave to catch her as she fell from the sky.

"You didn’t have to catch me," she said once the Gorgon was defeated. "I’ve got telekinetic flight. Or did you not notice that?"

He shrugged. "I noticed, it’s just instinct. Sorry."

Brainstorm sighed. "It’s fine. Thanks." She fumbled with her wrist, and the shield that had been on her arm shrunk into a watch.

"Whoa."

She smiled.

_You okay, Perce?_

**_A little bruised, but not bad. Give me ten?_ **

_Sure._

Brainstorm frowned. "You okay there?"

Percy tapped the side of his head. "I’ve got a telepathic friend."

"Really?"

Telepathy was one of the rarer powers. Powers in general were rare, so almost no one was telepathic. 

"Yeah, it’s pretty selective, but still. It’s awesome."

She smiled.

He adjusted his mask. "This was fun. See you whenever we run into each other again?"

"Stop bringing your fights to my territory, waterboy," she said. But she was still smiling.

* * *

"Is that the best you've got?" Annabeth teased.

Riptide mock gasped, pressing a hand to his chest before ducking below the swing of a clubbed tail. "You can do better?" he asked. "I _can_ handle myself."

"Please," she said, lifting a rock by raise her hand. "You’re floundering."

He flicked water in direction, and her laugh came easy, even with the possibility of death and injury relatively high. "Don’t do this to me," he said, his voice flat. "I don’t deserve it."

"Sure you do, Aquaman." She rose to his level as the monster dropped. "You burst into my area, I can call you whatever you I want."

"If you ever do it, I have the right to do the same."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but bumped the fist he was holding out to her. "Have fun at the police station."

Riptide smirked. "Don’t I always?"

 **"You like him,"** Piper accused.

Annabeth pulled out her earpiece. The fight was over anyway.

* * *

"Well. Shit."

Brainstorm nodded. She was tense, and definitely more uncomfortable than usual. In the few months he’d known her, she’d never given off this sort of energy.

 ** _Any chance Nico can come in?_**  

 _I can check, but I know he was busy today._  

"Something wrong, brainiac?" he asked, fiddling with the sleeves of his costume.

She gripped the handle of her knife tighter. That wasn’t good. She rarely used the knife, it was just a precaution, but she reached for it whenever she was nervous. Percy didn’t like it when she was nervous. It meant things were beyond bad.

"Brainstorm?"

She took a shaky breath. "I know him."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably inaccurate EMP but whatever. Also, probably incorrect medical stuff, but again, whatever
> 
> (note: from this point on, it was all written today, so there's no editing. sorry!)

Annabeth dove straight into battle. She stopped thinking, allowing her instinct to take over, strategizing and planning every motion. She didn’t like giving herself over completely to her emotions, she didn’t like how it made her feel, how she acted when she did, how hard to was to drag herself back. 

She could hear Reyna trying to talk to her, and she was pretty sure someone was calling for Chiron, but it was like she was underwater and they were above. She was barely processing Riptide’s movements. 

Kronos. He called himself Kronos now.

She pulled her knife from its scabbard with gritted teeth, deflecting one of his blasts. She opened her shield, ducking behind it as she analyzed the situation more.

Riptide was next to her now, no longer experimenting with Kronos. "Plan?" he asked, his voice slightly more real than everyone else’s. 

Annabeth returned her knife to her scabbard. "I’m working on it."

A panicked expression crossed his face. "Working on it?! Hey genius, it’s been fifteen minutes, we need a plan ASAP!"

Fifteen minutes. Not good. She lost herself too much.

Riptide grabbed her arm. "Can you do this?" 

"I—" She set her jaw. "I have to."

He squeezed her arm once before dropping it. "Alright. Whatever you say, Brainy. I’m following your lead."

Annabeth nodded, trying to find a weakness. She used to know them all. But now… Whenever they got close, they were too slow. _And_ he was telekinetic. Fighting another telekinetic always felt like an uphill battle, they could stop anything she threw at them.

She sunk back into her mind, forcing all emotions away and allowing her brain to work in statistics and strategy. She ignored any and all hits Kronos landed on her, she could barely feel the pain and they were unimportant except for the fact that they slowed her down.

The lights in the houses dotting the edge of her peripheral vision went off, tugging at her attention.

The irritating buzz from her earpiece stopped. Reyna and Frank’s attempts at helping were gone.

Riptide stiffened. "What was that?"

She tapped her ear. "I—"

Kronos smiled, throwing something over his shoulder. "How good are you without your little friends to help?"

His voice made her ears and heart bleed. It was almost like she was falling. Or like she’d been thrown back in time, an entire decade. He had laughed manically, pretending to be the villain and—

There was no pretending this time.

He was Kronos, he wanted more power, and that’s all that mattered. It was her job to protect people no matter what. No personal connections were allowed to get between her and that mission. She wouldn’t allow silly childhood memories to break that promise. 

Annabeth’s back was pressed against Riptide’s. She wasn’t sure when he’d gotten there, holding them up on a wave while blocking as much from Kronos as he could. Was she so deep in her own mind that she’d stop flying? She couldn’t remember. It was unimportant.

Kronos lunged.

Annabeth dove, shoving Riptide out of the way.

Riptide fell. 

She burned.

—«·»— 

Percy barely caught himself with water, his face scarily close to the ground. He jerked up, steadying the wave and trying to figure out what had happened.

Instinct took over and caught Brainstorm. She had been closer to the ground than Percy had been. He did not want to think about what would’ve happened if he’d been any slower.

She was hot to the touch when he grabbed her, supporting her and shooting the wave that had been holding her at Kronos in ice shards. She winced and tried to pull away, but Percy held her tight. He threw up a wall of water in front of them.

**_I need Nico. NOW._ **

"‘m fine," she muttered. Her words slurred and blood trickled down her face from under her mask.

Percy swallowed tightly. "No you’re not," he said. "If I let go I think you fall off."

"Lemme go, fish...fish...jesus." She tried to push him away, but cried out in pain when she moved her arm.

His thoughts froze. She’d pushed him.

Brainstorm clutched her arm, tears running down her face and mixing with the blood. "I’ll be okay," she whispered weakly.

"I don’t believe you." Percy gave Kronos one last look before propelling them towards the city, yelling for Nico to meet them at the city’s edge in their usual spot.

They dropped from the sky when he spotted Nico. Percy caught them inches above the ground. Nico was already stepping between them, hissing when he touched Brainstorm, and pulling them towards the dark shadows of a looming building. 

Percy never got used to shadow travel. It didn’t matter how many times he did it, hand in hand with Bianca or Nico. It chilled him to the core, leaving him shivering for hours after, made his face feel like it was no longer attached, and was like riding an intense rollercoaster after eating too much greasy park food. The noises he’d hear were the stuff of nightmares, and he always slept with the lights on the night after.

It was like walking through the void.

Stepping into headquarters was like going home after getting in a fight at school. Actually, it was exactly that.

Rachel tackled him immediately. Nico pulled Brainstorm away seconds before, saving her from being crushed.

"Don’t do that!" Rachel hissed into his ear. He could feel her tears on his neck.

Hazel and Bianca joined the hug and made it unbearably tight. They all stepped away after a minute, Hazel openly crying, and Bianca trying to subtly wipe her eyes.

"We need Will," Percy said.

"He’s not in class," Grover said, pulling his hand from his mouth. "I think he’s free right now." 

Nico handed Annabeth back to Percy and stepped back into the shadows. Bianca rubbed her eyes harder.

Hazel grabbed the first aid kit as Percy led Brainstorm to Will’s table. She was still protesting softly, but he didn’t think she could really process what was happening. He lifted her onto the table, laying her down and pulling a towel from under the table to use a pillow.

Rachel handed him a glass of water. "Drink," she ordered. She put one next to Brainstorm, hesitating before sharply turning back to the monitors.

Percy drank the glass in one go, sending out a message to Grover at the same time. **_Did it look that bad?  
_**

Grover was silent. Percy glanced over his shoulder to see Grover biting his nails again. Percy raised his eyebrows. Grover looked away.

_Your tech went out. We lost all images. We… We didn’t know what happened until you called out to me. We thought—_

Percy looked back to Brainstorm. Not the time. He took her hand and rubbed circles on the back of it with his thumb. "You’re going to be fine," he promised.

Will’s loud panicking signalled that they’d arrived.

Percy leapt out of the way as Will sprinted to the table. Will started asking questions as he pulled out all of his equipment and sat Brainstorm up, and even Percy knew Brainstorm’s questions were what Will would’ve considered "unsatisfactory."

"No," Will muttered. "I can’t… I—" He grabbed at his hair, taking a few quick breaths before touching Brainstorm’s shoulder again. He’d cut the soft part of her outfit over her injured shoulder. Her skin was dark like it was bruising, but tinged green and too hot. Will chewed on his lip as he prodded it softly. "Can I?" he asked, tugging on the metal armor covering the rest of her shoulder.

Brainstorm pulled at it weakly.

Hazel, who’d been hovering, pushed past Percy. She unclipped the armor and peeled the rest of Brainstorm’s suit away, setting the armor on the table. "I’ll get you a shirt," she said with a tight smile, leaving Brainstorm in a sports bra and half a superhero costume.

Will clenched his jaw as he examined the entirety of her shoulder. Brainstorm was bleeding too. He cleaned the wound, Bianca throwing advil and ice at Percy as she walked by. Hazel put two changes of clothes on the table next to Percy, squeezing his hand before returning to the monitors as well.

"It’s not—" Will groaned. "I can’t do it," he whispered. His voice was strangled. "I don’t… It’s not a normal shoulder wound it’s… I don’t know what it is! I just know it’s not something I can fix. I can’t fix it." He sounded close to tears.

Dread settled in Percy’s stomach. It would have to work.

He pushed himself out of his chair. "Get me a bucket of water." 

Will stared at him. "Excuse me?"

"I need a bucket of water, _now_." Percy was not a good enough person to be above scaring people when he needed something of importance done.

Will jumped a little before rushing off to the bathroom.

He felt the eyes of the others on him. 

"This is a bad idea," Hazel said softly.

Grover nodded frantically.

"If Sally was here, she wouldn’t let you do this," Bianca pointed out.

Percy narrowed his eyes. "You think my mom wouldn’t do everything in her power to help someone?"

"You _can’t_!" Rachel snapped, slamming a hand on the desk.

" _Trust me_ , I can handle it." He shook Brainstorm softly and handed her the t shirt Hazel had grabbed.

"I can’t let you do this," Rachel said. "I—" 

"I am _not_ letting her die," Percy interrupted. "You don’t get a say in this, Rachel." He helped Brainstorm pull the shirt over her head. "I am not letting you die," he said to her.

She gave him a weak smile. "That’s good to know," she said softly, her voice taking on a sing song quality that he hadn’t heard before. 

Rachel glared at Will as he put the bucket down on the table. Nico shook his head, taking Rachel’s hand and saying, "Let’s go for a walk and let him do what he has to."

"I’m coming with you," Hazel said, dropping a wrench that she’d been fiddling with nervously. It was crumpled into a ball and slightly melted. 

Bianca crossed her arms as Percy put Brainstorm’s arm in the bucket. "I’ll be in the other room. Come on, Grover." She dragged him away as the others stepped away. "Just do it," she said before stepping out.

_Please be careful._

Will wrung his hands. "Are you sure…?"

Percy plunged his arms into the bucket. 

The water was a shock to his system. He hadn’t been submerged in water like this since the last incident. He took Brainstorm’s hand in his own and shut his eyes. 

He let his mind take over, ignoring Will’s worried fidgeting and Brainstorm’s breathing, which had gotten significantly more shallow since they’d gotten back. All his thoughts disappeared into the swirling of his mind, overtaken by a thick fog.

Percy focused all his concentration on Brainstorm’s shoulder. Forcing water and energy towards it, imaging everything that was broken mending itself and healing. His brain ached and he felt faint. Whatever Kronos had done, he’d done it well.

He swayed and gave one more push, throwing everything into that burst. He felt Will catch him as he collapsed.

—«·»— 

Annabeth blinked slowly. Her shoulder ached, but it no longer burned. She was laying on something hard, and the lights in the room were dim. Her mask was still on, distorting her vision slightly. She was wearing a t-shirt instead of the top of her costume, which was bunched around her waist. The t-shirt was too big, but it was soft and smelt faintly like salt water.

She sat up slowly, keeping her arm close to her chest. She replayed the battle in her mind.

She took a shaky breath. _Luke._

Annabeth had removed him from her mind years ago. It hurt too much to think about. How he’d been gone when she woke. How Thalia had to fight him, _actually fight him._ Thalia’s pained smile before—

"You’re up," someone said softly. "How are you feeling?"

"A little woozy," Annabeth said.

He was sitting in front of a collection of monitors. "That’s expected. I’ll do another check up in a little bit." He nodded to a glass of water on the table that she hadn’t noticed. "Drink that. Are you hungry?"

"Not really," she said, picking up the glass. She hesitated, it wasn’t exactly smart to drink something that a total stranger had given her.

He frowned. "Really? I’ve been watching the footage that we were able to capture, and you used your powers quite a lot. Riptide is usually starving after intense battles."

She shook her head. "Riptide?"

He motioned to the table next to her. Riptide was laying on the table, asleep. "I’m Will, by the way," he said with a tired smile. "I’m a friend of Riptide’s. I promise the water isn’t poisoned."

"Brainstorm. And I don’t know if I can trust you," she said. "Maybe you knocked out Riptide and brought us here."

Will raised his eyebrows. "The weakass, powerless med student knock out a superhero and then drag them somewhere? What do you remember?"

Annabeth put the glass down. "I shoved Riptide out of the way. After that it gets fuzzier and fuzzier, but he brought us somewhere, we met someone else, it got really cold, and then there were lots of voices." She paused. "I remember Riptide saying something to me, but I don’t remember what it was."

Will nodded, getting up from his seat. He walked over to the table. "Can I check your shoulder?"

She carefully pulled her arm from the sleeve of the shirt. 

"That was Eclipse," Will said as his fingers brushed her skin. "He shadow traveled you and Riptide here, our headquarters. The voices you heard were some of our friends. I did the best I could, but whatever happened to you…it was definitely not something they teach you in med school. Riptide had to heal you."

Annabeth glanced to Riptide’s unconscious form. "Healed me?"

Will muttered something under his breath.

"What did you say?"

He sighed. "Healing takes a lot out of him. He can get dragged down into his own mind and he becomes less and less like himself. It gets scary."

She lowered her eyes. "Sorry."

"No, no! I didn’t mean—" Will ran a hand down his face. "I’m glad he healed you, I just wish it didn’t mean his entire personality was at risk when he did it."

"Wha—?" Riptide asked, lifting his head from the table.

"You drool when you sleep," Annabeth said, tapping the side of her mouth.

He put his head back down.

"How do you feel?" Will asked. 

"Like I’ve died."

"I meant mentally."

"Like I’ve died."

Will sighed. Annabeth had the urge to the same.

Riptide propped himself up on his elbows. "I can still feel the fog in my mind, alright? Give me a little bit of time to clear it out. I’ll be fine."

"You are never doing that again."

Riptide scoffed. "You all keep saying that. I know how to handle this, let me help people."

"Your mom is going to have a heart attack," Will murmured. "I think your shoulder is fine now."

Riptide gave Will a pointed glare.

Annabeth put the shirt back on. "Thanks."

"Of course. Will you please drink this water?"

She did this time, and Will gave Riptide a quick check up.

Riptide motioned to her face. "You might wanna clean that up."

Will chewed on his lip. "I was actually going to ask if I could check under there, to make sure that everything look rights, make sure nothing needs to be stitched or anything, that’s a lot of blood. Riptide probably fixed it but…"

Annabeth touched her face, feeling the dried blood.

"How about this?" Riptide asked. "I take off my mask, you take of yours. Will can even leave the room if he wants to, and I can tell him if anything looks really bad."

She blinked. "Really?"

Riptide shrugged. "Sure, why not. I mean, you did save my life. I’d probably tell you who I am without you doing it too."

She weighed her options carefully. There were downsides to people knowing, but Riptide was another superhero. He’d turned around and saved her life, risking his own well being for it. "Okay."

"I… Honestly, I wasn’t expecting you to say yes." Riptide rubbed the back of his neck. "Do you want Will to leave?" He pulled at his mask.

"That’s okay." Will had helped save her, and if Riptide trusted him, she had no reason not to.

Riptide tugged his mask off and gave her a smile. "Anticlimactic, huh? I’m Percy."

Annabeth unclipped her mask. "Annabeth."

He stared at her for a long moment. "Sorry, just…sort of weird that you aren’t just a mask. I could see a lot less of your face than you saw of mine, so maybe that’s why you seem less surprised."

She smiled. "Wait…" She tapped her ear, then pulled the earpiece out. "What?"

Percy shrugged. "Happened to me too. My camera cut out, everyone freaked out," he said sheepishly.

"Camera cut…" Annabeth said. She examined her earpiece. "Oh no."

"What?" Will asked, tense and ready to do anything.

She pulled the sleeve of her costume up. "Leo put a tracking device in my suit just incase… Our tech turned off. My camera must be off, my earpiece is off, that might be off too. And if it, they’re definitely freaking out too."

Percy flipped over his mask. "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" he joked, flipping the switch on the built in camera twice. A black monitor suddenly showed a picture of his lap. "You can’t be serious," he said, lifting his mask. Annabeth’s face filled the screen as he pointed it at her.

She rolled her eyes and pushed it away. "At least we figured that out." She found the tracker and turned it on and off, which she hadn’t realized she could do. She never had a reason to. "Lucky that’s all we had to do."

Will sunk down into a chair. "What turned them off?"

"I’m guessing an EMP," Annabeth said. "Strange that Kronos had that on him, but he seemed to know what he was dealing with."

"You said you knew him. Have you fought him before?" Percy asked.

"No." Which technically wasn’t a lie. She’d never fought Kronos before. There was a difference. There had to be.

Will spun his chair towards the monitors. One was frozen on Kronos. "How do you know him?"

"I knew him growing up. I don’t know what happened." What she knew was minimal and told in shallow last breaths.

"Hm."

"Glad you’re up," a girl announced. "There’s nothing to do in there, it’s literally just a bed. You could’ve slept in the bed instead of on a table."

Percy stuck his tongue out at her.

She stopped in front of Annabeth. "Whoa, okay, maskless. Sorry, we didn’t realize…"

"It’s Percy’s fault!" someone bleated from the doorway.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Grover, you suck."

The girl gave him a wicked smile. "And you don’t?"

"I’m going to dump your ass in the ocean," he said, deadpan. "Silhouette, Brainstorm. Brainstorm, Silhouette."

"Not really," Silhouette said, holding her hand out. "Call me Bianca. I haven’t been Silhouette in months."

"Annabeth," she said, shaking Bianca’s hand. "What happened to you, anyway?"

Bianca’s face fell. "Bad things happen when you overuse your power. I Faded. Temporarily, but still."

"Faded?"

"Like a ghost," she said. "You could pass a hand through for days. No shadow travel means I’m not super helpful in the field. So thanks for helping fish face here out." She poked Percy’s arm.

"And this is Grover," Percy said, as Grover leaned up against his table. "He’s my telepathic friend."

" _Selectively_ ," Grover corrected. "I’m glad you’re okay."

"Thanks." She turned her earpiece and camera back on. "Where am I?"

"Below the Dare’s building," Bianca said.

"Speaking of Dare," Grover said, "can I call them back now?"

Percy shrugged. "Sure."

"It’s your own fault if Rachel punches you," Bianca said, spinning her chair in slow circles." She gasped and jerked her chair to a stop.

"Sil?" Percy asked.

"Bear," she said.

Will’s eyebrows furrowed. "Bear?"

"There is a _bear_. A bear at our door!" She made the security camera image larger. "A _bear_."

"The hell?" Percy asked.

Grover pushed off the table as Percy launched himself off, easily falling into a chair that Will moved while he was midair. Annabeth wondered how often that happened, and how often he’d tripped or faceplanted before they’d perfected it.

"What do we do about a bear?" Grover asked.

"Uh…"

Bianca typed rapidly. "How are the other’s doing, Grover?"

"They said five minutes."

"Make it two."

The screen flashed red.

Bianca yanked her hands away from the keyboard. "The bear just broke into our headquarters."

"A bear broke into our high security headquarters," Grover said.

"I can’t believe those words left my mouth," she said, stunned.

Annabeth frowned as the bear disappeared from the camera’s view. "Hold on…"

The bear burst though the door as a group of people stepped from the shadows. The bear stumbled back, crashing into the people behind him.

Eclipse jumped out of the bear’s way. "What the fu—"

" _Bear_?!" a redhead shrieked. "Percy, what the hell?!"

"You think _I_ know?!" he yelled back.

Piper leaned out from behind the bear. "Give us Brainstorm and we won’t set the bear on you."

"Or kill you," Reyna said calmly, stepping out and pointing a gun at Bianca.

Bianca’s eyes widened. "Oh that’s just so many levels of not okay with me."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Did you have to be so dramatic?"

Leo squeezed between Reyna and Frank. "Dude! You’re alive!"

All the tension rushed out of Piper. "God, Annabeth."

"Frank, can you move?" Jason asked.

"Um, are we allowed to ask?" a girl hiding behind Eclipse asked.

—«·»—

"My mom is going to have so many adoption papers to fill out," Percy joked.

Bianca snorted. "After she has about fourteen heart attacks."

"I’m not leaving until after I’m sure she won’t die of shock," Will promised.

"Well I’m sure she already knows about the fight," Grover said.

Piper looked up from where she sat on the floor. "Chiron was flipping out, so your mom’s probably doing the same."

"Chiron?" Hazel asked.  
  
"Annabeth’s, Jason’s, and Frank’s trainer," Reyna said, pulling a phone from her pocket. "Speaking of Chiron, I’m going to call him with an update." She stood up by pushing on Jason’s head.

"Trainor?" Nico asked, tipping back his seat.

Jason stopped stroking Frank— who apparently wasn’t usually a bear. "Someone who teaches us how to control our powers?"

"You didn’t have a trainer?" Annabeth asked.

"Nope," Percy said, popping his p.

"I shadow traveled on accident and kept doing it until it was less jerky," Bianca said with a shrug.

"Bianca trained me," Nico admitted.

"Huh," Leo said. "Weird."

"For you," Rachel said, re entering the room with food. "You’re welcome."

"My debt to you keeps growing," Percy said.

"Stop almost dying on me, then," she said, tossing him a soda can.

"No promises."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last one! This one is x months after the second part. It's a Percy part even though the last part ended on Percy, because there was a lot of Annabeth in the last part, and also because Percy. 
> 
> Just because I didn't like how it ended with the last part and domesticness.

"That probably could’ve gone better," Annabeth said, sheathing her knife.

Percy laughed. "All things considered, that went pretty well."

_Oh god, stop saying that._

**_You still love me._ **

_The question is why._

He capped his sword, sliding the pen into a pocket on his belt. He’d been surprised when Leo had shoved it into his hands, but it was surprisingly helpful. The people they’d been fighting lately were ruthless and close combat was common enough that actual weapons were needed.

The trail to Kronos was cold. No one had seen him since the first battle, and Annabeth was still quiet about him. From what he could tell, some of the people and monster they fought worked for him. But he couldn’t figure out Kronos’ end game.

"Grover says to stop saying that," Annabeth said with a smirk.

Percy shrugged. "Oops. Do you have class tomorrow?"

She groaned. "Don’t remind me. I’ve got a long lecture and a paper to work on."

"Do you want to raid my fridge and work on it at my apartment?"

"You mean your mom’s apartment?"

"Keep teasing, I don’t have to pay for room and board." He took her hand and summoned a wave to bring them back to the city. 

"Hey," Annabeth said, hitting his chest lightly. "Did I say I was coming?"

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Was it really a question?"

She rolled her eyes. "Technically yes. And someone has to make sure you don’t just eat ramen noodles and dino chicken nuggets."

"It was finals week," he argued. "And they were _dino nuggets._ You ate half of the dino nuggets."

They ducked into the back alleyway and into Percy’s headquarters. Bianca was eating pasta at the monitors and Nico was napping on a table.

"Can I steal your Netflix again?" Bianca asked once Percy had returned from getting changed.

"Don’t watch any of Sense8, I’m in the middle of an episode, but other than that, go for it."

"Awesome." She put her tupperware down. "Also, Reyna emailed us about something she found out about Kronos from Chiron."

He raised his eyebrows. "Really? We’ve been trying to get something out of him for months."

Bianca nodded. "I’ll forward it to you. It wasn’t much, but maybe you or the Brain can pull something from it."

"If anyone does, it’ll be the Brain."

"What about me?" Annabeth asked, grabbed her bag from under Rachel’s table. 

"I love how you answer to that," Bianca said with a smile. "Have fun doing homework, I’ll be here like always."

"What did you tell Bianca I’d do?" Annabeth asked as Percy unlocked the apartment.

"Reyna found something out about Kronos," Percy said, pushing the door open. "I told Bianca we’d look at it." He hung his jacket over the back of a chair and toed off his shoes.

Annabeth was still standing in the doorway.

"Annabeth? Is something wrong?"

She took a deep breath and shook her head.

"You want to come it?" he asked, holding out a hand.

She took it and he pulled her into the apartment and then into a hug. Annabeth clung to it for a few seconds, before pulling away to close the door and lock it. "What was that for?" she asked as she pulled off her shoes.

"Why do I need a reason to hug you?" Percy pulled open the fridge. "We’ve got that bean and rice thing, chicken alfredo, and enough canned soup to fill a reservoir. And dino nuggets."

Annabeth started setting up her laptop on the floor of his bedroom while he heated up beans and rice for her and vegetable soup for himself. When he delivered the food, she was already surrounded by papers and in her zone.

He closed the laptop a little with his foot, making her look up in surprise.

She smiled and took the dish he handed her. "Thanks."

"No problem." He sat down on his bed. "When is this paper due?"

"Two weeks, and I’m over halfway done, I just…" She took a bite and shrugged. "Who knows what’ll happen."

"That’s very true. Eat, and then I’ll let you work for an hour so before making you break."

Percy read Reyna’s email while Annabeth worked, watched a few YouTube videos, and then read it again. When Annabeth had been working for an hour, it was time for him to force her to stop working.

"Take a break," he said, poking her in the back with his foot.

She sighed and leaned back against the bed. She looked up at him. "Do I have to?"

 "Yup. Twenty minutes, let’s go." He patted the bed next to him.

Annabeth shook her head, but still climbed up next to him, nudging him in the side.

Percy didn’t like asking her about Kronos. She said she knew him when she was growing up, and clearly she didn’t like thinking about it. It made her uncomfortable. No one wanted to pick her mind unless they absolutely had to. 

"Are you going to show me this email?" she asked. "Or are you just going to keep thinking about showing it to me and how it could be a bad idea?" 

"When did you become Grover?" He hesitated, but he pulled up the window.

‘Chiron says he wasn’t born with powers.’

Percy let her read it a few times before asking, "Is that true?"

Annabeth nodded slowly. "Yeah. He had no powers. He was sixteen when we met Chiron. He still hadn’t developed powers, and Chiron couldn’t get any out of him."

"Chiron knows him?"

"Chiron doesn’t know Kronos," she said. "Neither do I. I know Luke Castellan." She leaned more into Percy’s side. "I met him when I was seven. Him and Thalia Grace."

Percy frowned. "Grace? As in Jason?"

"Yeah. Jason had an older sister."

The past tense sent a chill down his spine.

Annabeth started playing with the hem of her shirt. "I ran away when I was seven. I had started fostering my powers, and not really knowing how to control telekinesis… My family was terrified. I was a freak. So I left. And I ran into Luke and Thalia. Thalia had the same powers as Jason, just slightly more so, and Luke had none. They had known each other before Thalia ran away from home, so Luke went with her."

Percy took her hands in his own before she could unravel her sweater. "What happened?"

"We ran into Chiron. He said he would train us. He accepted Luke and let him stay. I didn’t notice Luke getting angrier about not having powers, but looking back on it…" She swallowed. "One day, he was just gone. And Thalia was on the training room floor and…" She wiped her eyes with her arm. "That’s all."

He let go her hands. "Hey," he said, cupping her face. "It’s going to be okay. We can do this."

"We couldn’t before," Annabeth said, her voice trembling.

Percy wiped away her tears with his thumbs. "We will. You keep separating Luke and Kronos and we don’t know how he got powers, because that shouldn’t be possible. Luke could still be in there."

"I don’t know," she said softly. "I don’t want to get my hopes up."

"But this isn’t a completely hopeless situation," he said. He kissed her nose. "We’re going to be okay, genius."

"Promise?" Annabeth asked, holding out a pinky. 

Percy wrapped his pinky around hers. "Promise." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not done with this universe yet! (You can try to rip it from my cold, dead hands) I'll be posting other things, especially since I deleted like a good 10k that was in my original outline. If I'd started about two months earlier and actually worked on it, this would be much much longer. 
> 
> (Also, yes, the ending is stolen from my own fanfic from this very universe. Oh well.)
> 
> Say hi on [tumblr](http://wearetheseven.tumblr.com/irismessage)! (If you want to ask for anything specific in this universe or for headcanons...you definitely should...)
> 
> Kudos and comments are better than cookies, so thank you ahead of time if you leave them. I hope you liked it!
> 
> -<3

**Author's Note:**

> (note: all chapters will be posted in one go)


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